Lieberman's Law

Rating:
Summary: A procedural with heart as well as action
Review: This third Abe Lieberman procedural involves a heavy dose of the personal. The mugging-murder victim on this frigid January Chicago morning is police sergeant Lieberman's nephew, David, son of his brother.

The novel opens with the muggers and the crime itself - the shots that killed David and wounded his very pregnant wife. It then moves to Lieberman, his insomnia, family worries, encroaching age, all shoved into the background with the telephone call from his partner, Hanrahan.

Hanrahan himself is quite a character - a former alcoholic sheltering the battered wife of a previous case, who contemplates remarriage to a Chinese woman while still awaiting his former wife's return.

Kaminsky seamlessly weaves all this and more into a coherent plot, with plenty of suspense, much of it generated by activities Lieberman and Hanrahan are unaware of - danger to David's wife, and the crazed fanatic who stalks the partners with a shotgun. And the ending is a shocker.

Kaminsky, Edgar-award-winning veteran writer, writes with warmth and melancholy humor; a layered book which works on all levels.